3) I'm sure it's been pointed out before but the arguments with regards to sovereignty and the economy are very similar for scottish independence and the eu referendum ("project fear" was coined by the snp). It's bizarre how brazenly both the snp and the brexiteers take the complete opposite tact on the two issues.

Here is the question the people of Scotland will face in the next independence referendum: when England falls out of the boat like a block of concrete, do you want your foot tied to it?

It would be foolish to deny that there are risks in leaving the United Kingdom. Scotlandís economy is weak, not least because it has failed to wean itself off North Sea oil. There are major questions, not yet resolved, about the currency it would use; its trading relationship with the rump of the UK; and its association with the European Union, which itís likely to try to rejoin.

All this talk about WTO rules, mostly nonsense-on-stilts as it might be, is nonetheless predicated on the continued existence of the WTO as a vaguely credible institution. Given the squabbles between Trump & China, that has to be in doubt.

Bit fucking late for that, isn't it? Another reminder of the tragically ironic fact that, while London and some of the other larger/more prosperous cities will probably be more or less OK, the areas due to suffer most after Brexit are the very areas that voted for it.

Wait... have all the recent 'highest ever' scaremongering immigration figures included 164,000 foreign students? Something almost no other country does? Does this mean actual net immigration is closer to 150,000 per annum rather than the 335,000 headline figure?

Wait... have all the recent 'highest ever' scaremongering immigration figures included 164,000 foreign students? Something almost no other country does? Does this mean actual net immigration is closer to 150,000 per annum rather than the 335,000 headline figure?

Well most foreign students are going to come here for a few years and then presumably go home or go somewhere else, so whether they're counted or not will make little difference to net immigration. However I wouldn't put it past this bunch of lunatics to count a reduction in international students coming here as some sort of success even though it has no long-term impact on the population. Who needs their money, anyway? I mean, our universities have got more cash than they know what to do with!